1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a mounting structure for connecting two members to each other, and in particular, a mounting structure for mounting a condenser of an air-conditioning system for a vehicle or a fan shroud having a powered fan on a radiator of a cooling system for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A car manufacturer finally assembling parts of a vehicle sometimes requests parts suppliers to deliver parts associated with each other in the form of an assembly or a functional unit, that is, to modularize the parts or components, in order to improve efficiency of the assembly by the car manufacturer.
Thus, in view of this need for modularization, the parts supplier is often required to deliver, for example, a radiator of a cooling system for a vehicle in a condition in which a condenser of an air-conditioning system for a vehicle and a fan shroud having a powered fan have already been attached to the radiator.
Mounting of the condenser and the fan shroud on the radiator is typically performed by inserting bolts through mounting holes directly formed in respective upper portions of the radiator, the condenser and the fan shroud or mounting holes of brackets attached thereto, and then fastening nuts on the bolts.
On the other hand, in order to mount lower portions of the condenser and the fan shroud on that of the radiator, fitting means are used instead of the bolts and nuts, since these components including the radiator are disposed in an engine room having a limited space. Once they have been set therein, it is difficult to access them by hand to perform maintenance work thereon.
It is known that, for example, two brackets each having an upwardly opened receiving recess are attached to a lower portion of the radiator or upwardly opened receiving recesses are integrally formed with the lower portion of the radiator. Two insert engagement portions attached to the respective lower portions of the condenser and the fan shroud or formed integrally therewith are fitted into the receiving recesses of the radiator. It is also known that in fitting the insert engagement portion into the receiving recess, a so called springback can be utilized.
Upon inserting the engagement portions of the condenser and the fan shroud into the receiving recesses of the radiator described above, in either of the case where the insert engagement portions of the condenser and the fan shroud are fitted into the upwardly receiving recesses of the radiator and the springback is utilized to do so, or the case where the springback is not utilized to do so, the receiving recess and the insert engagement portion are required to have strict dimensional accuracy in order to prevent a rattling of the radiator, the condenser and the fan shroud which may be caused by a vibration input into the vehicle.
Additionally, when the insert engagement portions of the condenser and the fan shroud are fitted into the lower receiving recesses of the radiator, the condenser and the fan shroud are tilted relative to the radiator so that the other portions of the radiator, the condenser and the fan shroud are prevented from interfering with each other. However, it is difficult for the insert engagement portions to be accurately positioned relative to the receiving recesses and for the former to be accurately fitted into the latter (in particular, the former have to be accurately press-fitted into the latter so as to obtain the springback), because a section of the insert engagement portion is a simple rectangularity and a section of the receiving recess merely corresponds thereto.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mounting structure capable of easily positioning one component thereof relative to the other component, and a mounting structure capable of easily positioning one component thereof relative to another component without these components having to be accurately dimensioned.
The present invention achieves this object by providing a mounting structure for connecting a first member and a second member to each other. The mounting structure comprises first bracket means attached to the first and second members and fastened together by means of a bolt and nut. The first bracket means include upper brackets attached to the first and second member, respectively. Each of the upper brackets is formed with a mounting hole through which the bolt is extended. The mounting structure further comprises second bracket means attached to the first and second members below the first bracket means. The second bracket means include a first abutment member attached to one of the first and second members and having a vertical wall portion. The second bracket means further include a second abutment member attached to the other of the first and second members and having first and second abutment portions vertically and horizontally spaced from each other. The second abutment member supports the vertical wall portion of the first abutment member from a bottom thereof as well as from the opposite sides of the vertical wall portion by means of the first and second abutment portions when the upper brackets are fastened together by the bolt and nut. The second abutment portion is disposed farther from the other member than the first abutment portion and below the first abutment portion and a region of the second abutment member below the first abutment portion is cut off away from the second abutment portion.
In accordance with the mounting structure of the present invention, the vertical wall portion of the one member can be easily inserted into the cut-off portion below the first abutment portion of the other member by tilting the one member relative to the other member. Then, the one member can be rotated relative to the other member around the lower portion of the vertical wall portion while the vertical wall portion is supported on the second abutment member. Subsequently, the mounting holes of the upper brackets of the first and second members are aligned with each other, the bolt is extended through the aligned mounting holes and the nut is threadedly engaged with the bolt to fasten the upper brackets together.
The present invention also achieves the object mentioned above by providing a mounting structure for connecting a first member and a second member to each other. The mounting structure comprises first bracket means attached to the first and second members and fastened together by means of a bolt and nut. The first bracket means includes upper brackets attached to the first and second members, respectively. Each of the upper brackets is formed with a mounting hole through which the bolt is extended. The mounting structure further comprises second bracket means attached to the first and second members below the first bracket means. The second bracket means includes a first mounting member attached to one of the first and second members and having a wedge-shaped engaging portion. The second bracket means further includes a second mounting member attached to the other of the first and second members and having an upwardly opened recess complementary to the wedge-shaped engaging portion of the first mounting member for receiving this portion.
In accordance with this mounting structure of the present invention, insertion of the wedge-shaped engaging portions of the one member into the upwardly opened recesses of the other member, namely, positioning of the former relative to the latter can be easily carried out, because the upper opening portion of each of the upwardly opened recesses is wider than the thickness of the bottom portion of each of the wedge-shaped engaging portions converging downwardly. Additionally, a so-called wedge effect causes the dimensional accuracy with respect to the engaging portion and the recess, which are required to have strict dimensional accuracy, to be relatively deteriorated.
Further, in this second mounting structure, it is preferable that the mounting hole of each of the upper brackets be vertically expanded.